NetCDF Attribute Convention for Dataset Discovery Report

The Unidata Attribute Convention for Data Discovery provides recommendations for netCDF attributes that can be added to netCDF files to
facilitate discovery of those files using standard metadata searches. This tool tests conformance with those recommendations using this stylesheet. More Information on Convention and Tool.

Identification / Metadata Reference Score: 3/4

As metadata are shared between national and international repositories it is becoming increasing important to be able to unambiguously identify and refer to specific records. This is facilitated by including an identifier in
the metadata. Some mechanism must exist for ensuring that these identifiers are unique. This is accomplished by specifying the naming authority or namespace for the identifier. It is the responsibility of the manager of the
namespace to ensure that the identifiers in that namespace are unique. Identifying the Metadata Convention being used in the file and providing a link to more complete metadata, possibly using a different convention, are
also important.

This attribute should be set to "Unidata Dataset Discovery v1.0" for NetCDF files that follow this convention.

1

Metadata_Link or metadata_link

This attribute provides a link to a complete metadata record for this dataset or the collection that contains this dataset. This attribute is not included in Version 1 of the Unidata Attribute
Convention for Data Discovery. It is recommended here because a complete metadata collection for a dataset will likely contain more information than can be included in granule formats. This attribute contains a
link to that information.

Text Search Score: 6/7

Text searches are a very important mechanism for data discovery. This group includes attributes that contain descriptive text that could be the target of these searches. Some of these attributes, for example title and
summary, might also be displayed in the results of text searches.

Extent Search Score: 8/8

This basic extent information supports spatial/temporal searches that are increasingly important as the number of map based search interfaces increases. Many of the attributes included in this spiral can be calculated from
the data if the file is compliant with the NetCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Convention.

Describes a simple latitude, longitude, vertical and temporal bounding box. For a more detailed geospatial coverage, see the suggested geospatial attributes. Further refinement of the geospatial bounding box can
be provided by using these units and resolution attributes.

Many of these extent attributes are calculated using the CF-Conventions.

Other Extent Information Score: 7/10

This information provides more details on the extent attributes than the basic information included in the Extent Spiral. Many of the attributes included in this spiral can be calculated from the data if the file is compliant
with the NetCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Convention .

/gmi:MI_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/gmd:MD_DataIdentification/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:temporalElement/gmd:EX_TemporalExtent/gmd:extent/gml:TimePeriod/gml:beginPosition provides an ISO8601
compliant description of the time period covered by the dataset. This standard supports descriptions of durations.

Creator Search Score: 6/9

This group includes attributes that could support searches for people/institutions/projects that are responsible for datasets. This information is also critical for the correct attribution of the people and institutions that
produce datasets.